


The Roanoke River Banshee

by Foxygirl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-23 18:23:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21085799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxygirl/pseuds/Foxygirl
Summary: Scully and Mulder get a case that has a apparition of a Banshee.





	The Roanoke River Banshee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crescentmoon223](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crescentmoon223/gifts).

> This is for Rachel/crescentmoon223 I hope that I have touched on all that you were hoping for. I had a blast doing my first case fic. 
> 
> Thank you for your prompt word Apparition.
> 
> I would like to give a BIG thank you to Gigi @trilliaventuras for beta-ing and sticking with me to the end. I couldn't have done it without you!
> 
> Also like to thank my awesome husband Ian for all his help and support.

Basement Office X Files

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully

October 3rd 1996

8:15pm

\----------------------------

When Mulder and Scully get to work, they already have a case waiting for them. Mulder opened the file and as soon as Scully saw the child like features shine through, she knew it had to be something in the paranormal field. She was really hoping they could spend a nice quiet weekend together just eating, sleeping, and having the best sex ever. They have only been together for a few weeks now and seem to be making up for lost time. They were both so scared to cross that line they had made, but it was the right choice, they are so in love and loving every moment of it.When she was in the hospital fighting for her life all she could think of was how much time she and Mulder had wasted. She knew she was in love with him and on one of Mulder’s nightly visits she could not be silent anymore. What surprised her was how Mulder poured his heart out telling her he also had been in love with her since day one. When Mulder found the chip that put her in full remission they wasted no time making up on everything they missed.

“How perfect is this Scully? a case involving an apparition of a Banshee that seems to be killing the local fisherman, so close to Halloween” Mulder said with that goofy grin on his face.

“Yes Mulder this is just fantastic, I’ll read over the file on our trip there, Banshee Mulder? this is a first.” Staring at him with her eyebrow raised and a smug grin she picks up the phone to call the coroner in Williamston.

“Sheriff Shaun Tomlinson states that two of the men were camping at the river and the other man was fishing in the early hours of the morning. It says here that they all were found miles away from their camp and are waiting to be autopsied by you Scully.”

“Williamston only has a coroner and the bodies are sent 45 min. away. It will be easier on everyone and faster for me to do it myself. The coroner, Leigh Tomlinson, offered to assist me when we get there. She’s Sheriff Shaun Tomlinson’s wife. This is a very small town and they maybe get three murders a year.”

“Scully, Williamston is not that far from here, we can take to train to Rocky Mount, rent a car and drive the remaining 30 minutes.”

“Sounds good Mulder, pick me up at my place in 30 minutes.”

Mulder walks her to the door, gives her a kiss that they both try not to deepen, but it's full of promises and love for later.

Mulder picks Scully up and they make their way to the train station to catch the 10am train to Rocky Mount, NC. Scully finally gets to look at the file like she needs to, once they are settled in their seats. She starts reading and finds that the people in Williamston truly believe there is a banshee that haunts the Roanoke River.

She reads to herself knowing Mulder has already gone over it and most likely formed his opinion and theories.

_A Banshee is known as a messenger of death, for its calls of wailing and is always a female apparition. The apparition is of Scottish or Irish mythology usually seen as an omen of death. The legend is that a female banshee will wail when someone is about to die, and in all counts a man, The wailing itself can bring on the death with bleeding of the ears and being “scared to death.” She is also famous for getting the male to follow her to his impending death, whatever she sees fit. She appears to take shape from the fog or mist rolling off the river and wears a black cloak with a hood. _

_ The story of the Roanoke River Banshee: During the Revolutionary War Dave Warner adopted the Roanoke River as his home. Once settled he owned and operated gristmill along the river’s shore. He used his grain to help the young Continental Army. In August 1781 several of the townspeople rode out to the mill to warn Warner that the British were coming and begged him to leave at once. Dave Warner refused to leave and locked himself in the mill. The redcoats broke into the mill and took Warner to the river’s shore and threatened to drown him. Warner cursed them: “drown me if you please, but you will be haunted by the banshee for the rest of your lives.” Only one of the soldiers begged to wait for the Commander to see to the miller’s fate. The others didn't want to wait and tied Warner up with chains and dumped him into the Roanoke river. As he was sinking a mist began to roll and take the shape of a woman with white long hair and claw-like fingernails, who suddenly threw her hair back and started a blood curdling scream. The soldiers retreated to their camp by the mill and when the commander came to camp he stated that “the river had turned as black as ink”. The officers camped near the mill and the enlisted men slept by the river. As the night slowly crept in, an erie yellow moon broke through the clouds leaving a yellow glow on the river. Then the banshee’s screams started and frightened the soldiers so much that they confessed to _ _ their commander what they had done to Warner. Ashamed of his soldiers the commander put them all to work in the mill. One night while working the banshee made an appearance inside the mill. She pulled her hood back showing a gruesome face and she started wailing until she could see blood coming out of their ears. Then it was like she had put a spell on them, one by one the soldiers started to follow her to the river. The next morning when the commander made his way to the mill he was in shock to find all his soldiers floating face down in the river. The one soldier that was the ringleader in Warner’s drowning was found a day later floating right where Warner has drowned. In August every year, it's said that you can hear the banshee wailing for her next victim. _

Scully closes the file just shakes her head a few times and looks over at Mulder and says “really Mulder? It's going to take a lot and me seeing this so called banshee before I can believe any of this.”

Mulder listens to what she is saying and turns to her with a grin on his face and says “Okay Scully then we both have a lot of work to do as soon as we get there.”

\----------------------------

Williamston Sheriff's Office

1:02 pm October 3rd 1996

Mulder and Scully walk into the Williamston Sheriff's Office and are greeted by the Sheriff Ian and his wife Leigh Tomlinson.

“I trust that you had a nice trip and not a hard time finding us?” Leigh the corner asks and holds out her hand to Scully and Mulder. “This is Ian my husband, and Martin County’s sheriff.” “It’s very nice to meet you Agent Mulder, Agent Scully and we thank you for getting here as fast as you did.” Ian shakes both of their hands and escorts them into his office.

Ian Tomlinson shows them to a seat and starts to tell them everything that he knows up to this point. “The two campers were locals, their names were John and Larry Roberts. John was Larry’s uncle, they always camped in the same spot, about twice a month for the last 15 years to fish. The other fisherman had come to the river earlier yesterday morning for fishing. He was Henry Smith. CSI didn't find anything, other than the bodies were several miles from where they were supposed to be. All three had blood coming

from their ears and a frozen look of terror on their faces. Agent Scully, Leigh will be able to meet you at the coroner's office in an hour.”

“Thank you Sheriff that will give us enough time to check into a hotel.” Scully turns and gives a wicked little grin to Mulder when no one else is looking. She knows her mind should solely be on the case, but she loves anytime she can let Mulder know that she does think of him and loves him very much. Mulder waggles his eyebrows and shoots his wicked grin back at her.

Mulder and Scully leave the Sheriff's office in search of a hotel. They find a Hampton Inn right off the bypass so they decide to check in there. They go up to their rooms and open the connecting doors. “Scully, if you want to rest a bit and then go do the autopsies, I’ll go to the crime scene.”

“Okay Mulder we can meet back here when we’re done.”

\--------------------------

Moratoc Park

Crime Scenes

2:13 pm October 3 1996

Mulder leaves and makes his way to Moratoc Park where the campsite and the pier where Henry Smith was fishing are. When he arrives, he makes his way down to the pier first and a shiver runs down his spine at how ghostly quiet it is. All there is to see is a fishing pole and the crime scene tape. He walks the pier, studies the water and walks to the other crime scene. As he walks off the pier and pass the Moratoc Park building he comes to a large deck where John and Larry’s campsite was. Same as the last scene except for the two tents and all of the campers gear. There is no trace of blood at the crime scene but at the campsite there are two set of boot prints that lead to where the campers met their death. All the victims were found over a mile from where their belongings were. Mulder walks back to check both Henry Smith’s crime scene and where his body was found for footprints. 

_ ‘I’m not understanding how all three of these men just got up and walked to their deaths almost as if they were following something or someone. Maybe Scully has something at the coroner’s office that will be of more help. I did take a sample of the water at both crime scenes for Scully to look at. The water is black as ink and you can’t even see the other side of the container. Also as the legend goes people seem to hear the scream of the banshee in the month of August, but there have been reports of hearing the banshee throughout the entire year.’ _Mulder thought.

He makes his way to the coroner's office to meet up with Scully and Leigh to see if they are finished with the autopsies

\----------------------------------------------

Coroner's office

October 3rd, 1996

6:07pm

Mulder comes to the autopsie bay where Scully and Leigh are working, he pokes his head through the double doors and ask if it's okay for him to come in.

“Hey ladies I sure hope that you both have found something because the crime scene isn't giving many clues,” Mulder says as he walks into the bay.

“Well Mulder I’m just closing up Henry Smith. He’s the last one. We’ve gotten the cause of death for all three victims, but I don’t think you are going to be happy with what Leigh and I have found.” Scully looks over at leigh then back to Mulder and takes a deep breath.

“Mulder, all three victims’ cause of death is a heart attack. They all also had ruptured ear drums which is why they had blood in the ears. Time of death for all three is 8pm. I dare say, going by the terror on all of their faces, it's almost as if they were all scared to death.” Scully looks back at Leigh and when she turns back to look at Mulder he has that damn goofy look on his face. Scully can already see in his eyes that he is going to ask her to go back to the river with him.

“Agent Mulder they also could have that same look of terror from the heart attack and bleeding from the ears can also be caused by the increase of blood pressure during a heart attack.” Leigh says and looks back to Scully as if she needs reassurance herself due to the change of energy in the room.

“Well Scully I guess the only way we are going to find anything is to take a nice trip to the river this evening and stroll down the pier” Mulder deadpans and tries to give his best puppy dog look. “Please?”

Scully does her best eye roll and looks back to him “Mulder you gotta be kidding me, everytime we do something like this it never turns out well for either of us.”

“Okay work with me here Scully, we just need to be there until nightfall which is at 8:05 tonight. If we haven't seen or heard anything by 9pm we call it a night and go home.”

“Fine Mulder we’ll go for a nice stroll down the pier and you’ll see that there is no such thing as a screaming banshee and that these three men died of natural causes.”

“Scully I still have the water from both crime scenes can you please take a look at that before we go?”

“Be glad to Mulder it could be that all three of them came in contact with something in the water that caused their deaths. Leigh and I will get started on that now if you would like to update Sheriff Tomlinson.”

All this time Leigh is watching them in fascination at how they have such a banter with each other just as she has with Shaun. She can see why they work so well together on such extreme cases. There is much more to these agents than meets the eye, and she smiles to herself and turns her back to them, It seems to be more intimate than just two agents having a disagreement and if they are not a couple, by God they will be soon.

“Thank you Scully and we can meet back at the hotel to change into something warm and comfortable.” Mulder says goodbye to Scully and Leigh and makes his way to go update the Sheriff.

Scully and Leigh take the water samples that Mulder got from each scene and prepare them for the Microscope. Scully has the sample from the Roberts case and Leigh has the other. As they study them they gasp at the same time at what they are looking at.

“Leigh if you don’t mind can we keep this just between us and the Sheriff, I’d like to be the one to tell Agent Mulder while we are at the pier tonight?” 

“Sure Agent Scully, I’ll go tell Shaun while you go back to the hotel.” Leigh has a sly grin on her face shaking her head wishing she could be there when she tells Agent Mulder.

“Thank you Leigh and I'll give you and the Sheriff a call before we turn in for the night. Our train is due to leave at 9am tomorrow but we may just drive back tonight.”Scully goes to collect her things and remembers that Mulder has the car “Oh my is there anyway you’d give me a ride back to the hotel?” 

“Sure Agent Scully just let me grab my things.” And with that they leave and make their way to the hotel. Scully has a million things running through her mind on the short trip to the hotel. She takes several deep breaths to calm herself before they arrive.

‘_ I certainly hope that I can keep my face neutral so that Mulder doesn't suspect that I’m hiding something. Am sure I can it’s my eyes that I worry most about, as long as I can keep my eye contact minimal things should go just like I want them to.’ _

_ \------------------------------- _

Hampton Inn

October 3rd, 1996

7:07pm

They arrive at the hotel and Scully thanks Leigh for all her help in the investigation and autopsies. She walks into the lobby and sees that Mulder is waiting for her. Scully does her best to avoid direct eye contact with him.

“Hey Mulder hope you haven’t been waiting for me too long?” Scully asked looking up at him and smiling. She whispers to him that she loves him and that she is over due on some cuddle time, Mulder chuckles, pulls her close and kisses her temple.

\---------------------------------------

Moratoc Park

October 3rd, 1996

7:35pm

Scully and Mulder make their way down to the pier starting at the boat ramp where Henry Smith was found. The more they walk the quieter it seems to get and a shiver runs down Scully's spine.

“Mulder can we stop for a bit? I need to tell you the results of the two water samples.” She looks up to his eyes and she hopes that all he sees is love, adoration and truth.

“Yeah, I forgot all about the water samples. It just showed you dirty river water and maybe a string of hair from the banshee right?” Mulder says with a chuckle and child like wonder in his hazel eyes.

“Well yes about the dirty river water and no on the string of hair from the banshee. There is a pulp mill about 45 minutes from here in Windsor. The night that the Roberts were camping they had a spill at the pulp mill that wasn’t reported. They had hoped to contain it just to the waterfront at the mill, but that didn’t happen. Gallons and gallons of bacteria and pulp were spilled into the river and the current flow that night brought it right into Moratoc Park.

“So what are you getting at Scully?” Mulder was getting a little impatient and wanted her to just spit it out.

“When Leigh and I looked at the samples it was full of a bacteria that comes from a pine tree. The pulp mills biggest supplier to paper. The bacteria can cause hallucinations, fever, and extreme raise in blood pressure if exposed to the river water at the time of the spill. When we looked over current flow the bacteria would have been at its peak at 7:45pm and peak again at 7:50am. Leigh is calling the Disease Control Center as we speak, even though the bacteria is gone now from here there are still many more towns that use the river for fishing and hunting.”

“Mulder the most logical thing that could’ve happened was when all three of the men were fishing they were exposed to the bacteria through their hands and any other skin the water came in contact with. They could have been hallucinating when they walked away from where they were fishing and as their blood pressure got higher their eardrums ruptured and they fell to their death with a look of terror of not knowing what was happening to them. Mulder I know you wanted the legend of the Banshee to be true but what we have here is a spill from a pulp mill that wasn’t reported and three innocent people were killed from someone else's mistake.” Scully stares into his eyes looking for understanding and that they uncovered a truth that can save other innocent people.

“I am glad that I got those water samples before it was gone from the area. Thank you Scully for being you and waiting to tell me once we were here and alone.” Mulder bends down and kisses her with all the love he can. They kiss and cuddle for a little while and turn back to go to their car. As they are getting in the car Scully looks up to the sky and sees the moon come out from behind a cloud and in the distance she hears a chilling scream. Mulder is already in the car, she looks at him and he just smiles and tells her to come on.

“Mulder can we just go get our things from the hotel and drive back to Washington tonight?” Scully asks with a forced grin on her face, hoping that he doesn't notice how afraid she is at the moment.

“Sure Scully I don’t see why not, it’s 8:05 pm now can you help with the driving?” Scully answers him a little fast that she can do that. She is just ready to be back home. It's been a very long day for the both of them. Scully takes one last look out the window glad that she is on her way home.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again hope everyone enjoyed it! Please leave any feedback!


End file.
